Gaurav Mittal

The objective of this work is to explore the use of a four bar mechanism for a dock lift. A conceptual CAD model of a loading dock lift incorporating a four bar mechanism is implemented. The mass and moment of inertia of the links and the lift platform are not taken into account at this stage and the emphasis is on implementation of the model and its kinematic analysis. The model is implemented in Simscape using multibody and fluid tools. The kinematic analysis of the multibody system is performed by modelling a bidirectional hydraulic actuation system for the lift in Simscape. The Simscape modelis simulated to evaluate displacements of the lift platform for the given spool valve positions and used to study the control of the continuous and stepped movement of the lift by the directional valve. The model is shown to be successfully implemented, paving the way for future inclusion of dynamic aspects.

The suspension system of a 2 DOF quarter car model is studied and simulated in Simulink. A passive suspension system is compared with an active suspension with constant and adapted references. A sinusoidal bump & pit, and a step bump with 0.07 m amplitude are used as the road disturbances. The Simulink model and the results obtained are reported. It is noted that the active suspension system gives superior results for all input road profiles in comparison to the passive suspension. With active suspension, there is about 60% reduction in the maximum suspension displacement. In addition, unlike the passive suspension, the active suspension does not oscillate much. For the active suspension, the velocity by which the suspension displaces is also reduced by approximately 40%. Furthermore, the active suspension with constant reference entails lowest displacement though at the expense of higher actuator force.

The Battery Thermal Management System (BTMS) is essential to the battery’s performance, which is integral to the electric vehicle’s overall performance in terms

Fluid flow over a NACA airfoil (NACA 0012) was simulated using ANSYS FLUENT. A two-dimensional steady state simulation was conducted along with SST k-ω turbulence model. Grid independency was established and study was done by varying Reynolds number and angle of attack over a range of 5x10⁵ to 2x10⁶ and -15° to 15°, respectively. Lift and drag coefficients were calculated from the simulations and compared with their experimental values. An excellent agreement was noted for the coefficient of lift. However, some discrepancies were observed and highlighted for the coefficient of drag. Specifically, the simulated values of drag coefficients were 30 to 100% higher than the experimental values. The discrepancies are attributed to the selection of turbulence model and 2-D steady state flow. Over the range of parametric variation in this study, both lift and drag coefficients increased with an increase in the angle of attack. The effect of variation in Reynolds number was minor. The coefficient of drag decreased with Reynolds number, whereas the coefficient of lift remained almost unchanged.

Incorporation of a heat recovery heat exchanger in the ventilation system in cold climates reduces the requirement of external energy for heating. However, frost formation can be an issue. In this work, a model of a counterflow heat recovery heat exchanger with frost formation is implemented using Matlab/Simulink. The model is used to study some representative conditions. The results show that the model predicts heat recovery as well as ice formation. After further refinements and validations, the model can potentially be used for predicting frost formation.

Photovoltaic cells convert solar energy into electricity. Their efficiency, however, reduces with rise in cell temperature. Thermoelectric devices, on the other

This paper provides new data at constant pressure, variable temperature and constant temperature, variable pressure over the range of temperature (295–750 K) and pressure (0.5–40 atm), in air and nitrogen bath gases at both constant number density and constant mole fraction needed to enable acetone laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) as a diagnostic tool in an elevated temperature and pressure environment. Results clearly indicate that the effect of elevated pressure on the temperature sensitivity of acetone LIF is negligible when the excitation wavelength is chosen near the absorption maximum, making acetone LIF ideal for measuring temperature fields in high-pressure systems. The data also show that the temperature sensitivity of fluorescence is relatively insensitive to changes in pressure at 282 nm excitation. Furthermore, at 282 nm, fluorescence per mole fraction can be used to extract temperature while fluorescence per molecule is relatively insensitive to temperature, making it optimal for concentration or pressure measurements.